my 2003 MR2, the money pit!

[DimitriMR2]

As an impulsive fool;
August 2017'
when I saw the gumtree ad in the next village for an "immaculate" grey MR2 with twin stainless pipes & 115kmiles for £1400 I was all over it,

My Grandad drove the Mk1, in midnight blue in the 80's. I have fond memories as a 6 year old sitting between my grandmothers legs pegging it round the M25 at silly miles an hour to go visit the natural history museum! hence to say  she occupies a mystic place in some obscure corner of my mind..

As I arrived at the address and saw the cobwebs from the bush at the botrtom of the drive connected to the car,
the rusted and scored discs, and general signs of not having moved for a wee while..

I was smitten... she started like a spitfire no less*
(*having never really dealt with many spitfires in truth)

and although she appeared to be "plugged in" via a cable she started on the first turn,
at this point I knew I was stuffed..

I could see she needed work, i could see she would need some attention, surely I was the man for the job...?
 with the wisdom of a small starving sloth I then proceeded to offer the previous owner £1100 for the car with no mot and the freindly assurance that the engine warning light would be sorted if the cold sensor was taken care of on the exhaust, and the rattle on the altenator pulley just needed replacing or regreasing..

I took it for a spin up the street in the wet, with 2 recent  Toyo Proxy T1-R on the back, and some old knackered ones on the front.. I scraped the rust from the discs and promtly set off home with my prize!  lost the back end only twice on the way home pulling out onto hills, learnt to respect her quite quickly...

This is where the fun/games begins...
SO I drop her with my local garage..
(absolutely amazing professional team, one ex RAC, one ex AA decided with a lack of quality garages (and over supply of dafty cowboys) to start one - took a while to find em, glad I did (not going to mention names-msg me if you really want to know!)

I make them aware of the sensor issue and request a fault read.I asked them to replace discs/pads, front tyres with new T1R's, service the car, mot the car
after a few hours I get a call back detailing the issues:
Radiator knackered
Subframe knackered
2 of 3 sensors on exhaust knackered
rear calliper siezed
altenator pulley knackered
Discs & pads all round knackered
handbrake not working (although this was taken care of by the disc/pad replacement)

Having already reached the limit of my repairs budget (about £800) I told the garage to crack on with the repairswhile and I would try and source a subframe second hand.. to no avail!
one was found, with holes.. and as a new one from Toyota was coming in at a rather reasonable £320ish I gave them the go ahead to order and fit the brand spankers sub frame....

my bill to mot and service my car came in at about £1700, however she now drives like the day she rolled out of the factory...

I would like to thank the forum members for their detailed and inspiring posts, as the information I found here has already catapaulted my knowledge forward and provided much inspiration for where I may like to go..

I have already debadged the front and back (I left the rear MR2 in the center, I have seen a nice TRD sticker to go beneath it..)
I also ordered and used the Maguires (2 part) light repair which worked a treat (inspired by this forum again)
I used a tin of kiwi shoe polish to repair the minor cracking on seats, water n polish & repeat (came back up a treat!)

to be done:
-Paintwork - one small ding & some stone chips (and now badge holes) need looking at by best paint shop i can track down (watch this space!)
-K&N filtering.. (just filter(£40) or induction kit (£280 + fitting?) what excactly am i getting for the pennies? who knows - more research to be done!
-Replace the soppy plastic grills with zunsport chrome (or black) ones ( just for the look) and maybe the engine bay one if we have pennies...
-Alloys - powder coated either gun metal grey, or black and have the callipers done at the same time (either blue or red, again cant decide - both look great- will get nice toyota stickers to go on them when finished too..)
-Steering wheel upgrade - looking at momo, omp and sparco suede options..
-Stereo upgrade to android or similar /speakers/amp?
-Research upgrading the shocks/springs maybe lowered? although she seems low enough, more reading needed on this one too...

I must say with all new discs and pads, and 4 new Toyo Proxy T1-R's on the grip in wet and dry is simply phenominal, the sound from the twin TTE is just worth sitting in 3rd all day for... I used a full tank of fuel in 200 miles on the first day out, I have since moved to premium fuel and purposefully looked the other way!

PS: was a bit miffed paying out basically £2,800 for a Mr2 with 115k miles on, then seeing one up for £3000 with half the miles and a year newer... but hey, mine now has a brand spankers subframe from toyota professionally fitted, and is a really rather tidy little example' - cheers!

Photos to come once ive worked out how to post em!

[manos3003]

Welcome and well done on the rescue!

We're suckers for pics here, so post stuff as you go along  s:D s:D

[2 of the left]

Glad you progressed The MK 3 is a wonderful machine if looked after

[DimitriMR2]

Hello fellow forum members!

@manos3003 - thank you kindly sir! it reminds me of an experience in my early internetting days with HTML and things, with a google search and a nights sleep, I will get there!

@2 on the left - I am certainly very happy with her, I can not stop grinning when driving her, and now the care has been taken and money spent, this one should go on for a few years yet!

[delhusband]

Hi, welcome! We'll done on getting price down, and all the work.  Don't be miffed about the £3k one you could've had. I'm in the opposite situation, bought a £3.5k and wishing I'd gone lower, as problems I have are roughly same (subframe, brakes, bushes). Enjoy the driving, and the rejuvenating  s:) s:)

[s12vea]

Nice to see someone restoring a 2 and bringing back to life

Pictures needed

[The Other Stu]

Good work Dmitri. Didn't fancy having a go yourself?

[CrazySX]

Hi and welcome to the club! Another one saved from the scrap heap. Well done!

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[Garfy]

Welcome, get out and enjoy  :-) :-) :-)

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[Bossworld]

Welcome, ended up doing the same as you mate, the car's repairs and doing it up has cost £2k and the car was probably only worth a grand to start.  Like you say if it's bits they'd all need doing eventually then it's probably worth it, particularly if you're keeping it.

As others have said, sometimes best to just get out there and drive it  s:) s:)

[1979scotte]

Every 2 I buy is knackered and in need of TLC.
It's a public service putting these to right.
Well done.

[manos3003]

Every 2 I buy is knackered and in need of TLC.
It's a public service putting these to right.
Well done.

You mean a duty to humanity   s:D s:D

[manos3003]

Every 2 I buy is knackered and in need of TLC.
It's a public service putting these to right.
Well done.

You mean a duty to humanity   s:D s:D